Reason Foundation

Obama Scraps Ozone Regulation

President Obama today announced that he will put a stop to the EPA’s effort to ratchet down national air quality standard for smog-creating ozone.

This is a much welcomed announcement.

The proposed standards would have lowered emissions levels from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to between 60ppb and 70ppb – 3 years before the EPA is even required to review the current standards.

This revision would add – based on the EPA’s own analysis – an additional $90 billion in compliance costs for industry, making it one of the most expensive regulations in U.S. history.

It seems that President Obama could no longer ignore pleads from businesses and communities who would be decimated by the proposed rule. In his statement the President cited concerns over the struggling economy as the main reason for the rule scrapping, adding, "Ultimately, I did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that will soon be reconsidered.”

The standards are up for review in 2013 – when Obama will be starting his second term or a Republican challenger begins their first.